In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack and Algernon clearly have a preoccupation with food. In this lesson, you explored the deeper meaning of this preoccupation. Using what you learned in this lesson and what you have read in the text, discuss how food serves as a symbol for obedience to impulse and the pursuit of pleasure. How does this symbol help Oscar Wilde to comment on and satirize society? new answer, with textual evidence
Food in The Importance of Being Earnest serves as a symbol for obedience to impulse and the pursuit of pleasure. For example, when Jack and Algernon are discussing their plans to go to the country, Algernon says, “I’m perfectly serious about it. I do nothing else but think of going to the country. Life in the country is the only life for a gentleman. High life below stairs, and low life above. That’s the only way to make both ends meet, as the moralists say” (Wilde, Act I). Here, Algernon is using food as a metaphor for the pursuit of pleasure, suggesting that he wants to escape to the country to indulge in the pleasures of life.
This symbol helps Oscar Wilde to comment on and satirize society by highlighting the idea that people often prioritize pleasure over responsibility. By using food as a metaphor for pleasure, Wilde is suggesting that people are often more concerned with indulging in the pleasures of life than with fulfilling their obligations. This is a commentary on the superficiality of society, and how people often prioritize pleasure over more meaningful pursuits.